At diversity conferences, I sometimes hear statistics like, “in the United States, a woman earns roughly 77 dollars for every 100 dollars earned by a man.” As someone trying to be an ally on diversity, I cringe. In my head, I hear all the objections male executives use to ignore fair pay issues. The gap …
Although I already planned on linking my earlier posts on social power to bias in the workplace, events in the streets reinforce the need. I believe the belated global discussion around racism overlooks an underlying factor that must be addressed if we are ever going to gain the moral, social, and financial benefits of truly …
I support workplace diversity not only on ethical grounds, but because it can be a source of competitive advantage. Diversity enhances communication across a broader customer base, expands the pool of qualified job candidates, and provides access to information that would otherwise be unavailable.[1] But data suggests getting those benefits isn’t easy or guaranteed. After …
Imagine the scene: A large hotel conference room in America filled mostly by white males in dark suits and plain shirts. A coterie of darker-skinned servers works the sea of tables. An older white male emcees the proceedings, and another asks everyone to bow their heads in prayer before delivering a Judeo-Christian blessing. After lunch, …
“‘I’m here so that this company doesn’t hire someone like me to come in and destroy your career.'” That’s the ear-catching line a successful litigator of harassment lawsuits uses to get the attention of executives glued to their phones when he is introduced as a speaker. Mark Baute is quoted in an article in The …
It was a dark moment, that day I realized many Agile advocates do not, in fact, “get it” regarding “self-organizing teams.” One indicator is the term used for people who facilitate Scrum ceremonies. For that reason I had already been thinking about changing the name, and then I started attending diversity and inclusion events. These …
I am a middle-aged, white, Anglo, straight cis-male using he/his/him pronouns. I hope I got that right. I have learned it’s not my place to claim I am an “ally” of minorities, but I am trying to be. Throw in that I was raised upper-middle-class in the American South and own my home debt-free, and …
